Intelligent Engine Optimization (IEO) measures AI citation events from raw server access logs, using IEO Citation Tracker. Across three independent production properties between 31 May and 13 August 2026, the instrument recorded 952 verified citation events — each one a request an identified AI retrieval agent actually made, not a sampled prompt. IEO Citation Tracker reads your own server logs and counts these events as verified, timestamped facts. Method and denominators.
Field Note FN-005 — Google Tells You What It Thinks You Are — by Which Crawler Stack It Sends
Three deployments received three different Google infrastructure mixes — legacy 66.249 crawl, new-range 192.178 + user-fetch proxies, and index crawl + Google-app sessions — each matching the property’s nature.
Source classification is not directly visible to operators but can be inferred from citation patterns. A source consistently cited for specific query types has been classified for those query types. A source cited rarely or only for narrow query types has a more limited classification.
IEO Engine deployments are explicitly architected to support broad source classification — not just answering specific questions but functioning as canonical references for entire topical areas. This produces citation availability across query variations rather than narrow citation for specific question phrasings.